


Good to see you again

by Ellioiey



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17630960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellioiey/pseuds/Ellioiey
Summary: Clementine and Aj have only had each other around for a while, so what will happen when someone from Clementines past resurfaces





	1. Long time, no see

 

She knows she can’t be scared, not with a little boy to take care of and god forbid anything happened to her son because of her, but sometimes when Ajs asleep and she is struggling to keep her eyes closed, the nightmares, the constant what ifs, they just won’t go away.

Eventually her body will be too exhausted to continue, and she’ll eventually fall asleep.

In the end it’s all worth it for Aj, but sometimes she wishes she had someone to be scared with, someone to even comfort her. But she hasn’t got any of those left; she has to be strong, for Aj. - Walkers. Walkers were surrounding them but she can’t move. She knew she shouldn’t have gone into that train station, that would have been to easy for her and now the belt is stuck, the car flipped over onto the roof and she’s just so tired. She wants to move, but her body won’t listen.

_dammit dammit no no no move move!_

Ajs outside unconscious and she doesn’t know what to do.

_C’mon clementine move, move!_

This is what she gets for thinking she could rest, she tries to get food for her boy and theirs an explosion, although at this point all she can do is curse herself for putting Aj in danger.

Just as she starts to feel her head becoming wet with blood and eyes going fuzzy she sees a pair of legs and hands reaching out to take Aj.

 

“dont,...take him”

-

Waking in a strange place isn’t particularly pleasant for anyone, however it becomes life threatening when the only person you’ve had around for years and are supposed to take of us nowhere to be seen.        

_Aj? Oh no no no, Aj?_

Struggling to get out of the bed, clementine held a hand to her head and felt a bandage.

_So they helped us? Whoever “they” is_

Walking around the room, stumbling every once in a while, she tries to find her knife but they must have taken it from her.

_oh great, just freaking great_

Eventually she found a craft knife in a old box on top of the wardrobe, and left the room. However just as she had left, she saw a boy, maybe about eleven or twelve, open the door and quickly pull out a knife. He looked panicked.

Disarming him was simple enough and Clementine was hoping he would take her to Aj straight away, but apparently someone else had been their too.  
“Lower your weapon and I’ll lower mine, then maybe we can talk about you seeing your boy.”  
Clementine wouldn’t normally be so complacent but right now she just needed to make sure Aj was okay.

_For Aj, just gotta find him, make sure he’s okay_

She dropped her knife, and he hesitantly dropped his bow, while stepping out into the light.  
“Okay that’s good, now listen, I can take you too your boy, you just gotta follow me okay?”  
“..fine”  
He looked releaved at this “okay good, this way” He began walking in the opposite direction and motioned for clementine to follow him.  
The other boy still looked fairly panicked but hurried away before anything else could be said.

Following the boy into a courtyard of sorts beside him, clementine began to look around. The building was ruined and covered in graffiti. Strangely enough, their were no adults, only kids as far as she could tell. A girl sitting on the barrier wall. The boy she had disarmed ran past to whisper to another boy with funny teeth.  
At this point, Clem registered the boy talking to her. “...all by yourself and with a kid too, how the hell did you make it this far? Oh um,The names Marlon, by the way”  
“...clementine, and we did have people but they left a few years ago”  
His eyes widened comically before he started stuttering.  
“Oh I’m.. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to,..um”  
“Nothing to be sorry for”  
“Yeah but...”  
“MARLON! WALKERS!”  
The kid with crooked teeth was screaming from the top of the wall.

_He’s just going attract more walkers like that, amature_

  
“Shit okay, just go see Louis, your kid and your stuff are with him”  
“Louis?”  
“Just follow the music”  
And with that he dashed of, towards the wall, bow and arrow in hand, with the other boy still peering at the growing number of walkers  


_Well this should be fun_

-  
Walking through the school was weird enough when you were only following you your sense of hearing, but it got even weirder when a red head came stomping towards you and proclaiming that your little boy had bit her, or at least, that’s what clementine thought when she had watched the girl round another corner and was out sight.  
Sighing, clementine finally found the door she had been looking for.  
Inside, her boy had been listening to someone play the piano, and she stepped inside, with Aj immediately turning around and smiling so wide, clem thought his face would split.

  
“Clem!”

She ran forward, Aj doing the same to meet in the middle hugging, with Clem on her knees and Aj’s arms wrapped tight around her.

When she pulled back she started to turn him round, checking for noticible injuries. “I was worried, I,.. I thought the monsters got you” he looked down at the floor but he quickly looked up again and started to grin.  
“You don’t have to worry about me goofball” Clem said with a smile at him.

“I know” he always seemed so confident in her ability’s, and it always warmed clems heart. “Now kiddo, that girl just now said you but her?”

Aj immediately looked guilty, glancing down at the floor  
“C’mon kiddo talk to me” He looked up again at the use of one of her nicknames.

“I didn’t mean to, she snuck up on me”  
“Still, no more bites, okay?”  
“No more bites”

He nodded his head.

“You ain’t dead, that’s good”  
The piano music had stopped and clementine realised the boy at the instrument was now looking her.  
“Watched your kid for you”  
He was tilting his head to the side and clementine didn’t know why but could’ve sworn she had seen it before.  
“It’s Aj” The boy quickly threw an apologetic look at Aj. “Sorry little dude” He turned back to Clem “I watched Aj for you” “Thanks, I appreciate it”  
She brought a hand towards Aj’s shoulder, as soon as she could tell he could see her form the corner of his eye. “Hope he wasn’t any trouble” “Well, no, not for me but he did give Ruby one hell of a time” he smiled at Aj before turning back to Clem “kid must have excellent taste” He turned back to the piano, playing the tune again before saying “I’m Louis”  
“Clementine”  
His fingers stumbled over the keys and he seemed to do a double take.  
Strangely enough, clementine felt like smiling at this but she didn’t know why.  
He turned towards her with a weird look. “Quick question Clementine, where you from? Before all this I mean”

His hands were still hovering over the keys.

Clementine didn’t answer for a minute, she wasn’t expecting that particular question.  
“Georgia, why?”  
At this, Louis started to chuckle and earned himself a confused look from the both of them. Shaking his head, he spoke again.

“Clementine, really, you don’t recognise this handsome face?”

She was confused to say the least, but as she looked closely at his freckles, his eyes and smirk she remembered something.  
The little boy next door who quickly became her best friend when she had no one else, who would always make her laugh and who would always come up with something nice to say, the little boy who got sent away because his dad was a drunk, who relied on his fists rather than his words.

“L,..Louis?”

“Yeah, long time no see Clem”

Suddenly he walking over to her and they were holding onto each other tightly.  
She now had to crane her neck to look him in the eye.

“Damn you got tall”

“Actually I think you just shrunk”  
That earned him a punch on shoulder.  
“Ow, Yeah, wow, you have not changed one bit, you know, except for the fact we’re in the middle of the apocalypse and apparently you have a kid now”

Aj was looking back and forth between the two of them with a dazed face.

“Clem who’s this?”

They both turned to the little boy. “An old friend of mine, from before the monsters” she said, smiling at her kid.

“How come you never told me about him?”  
“Yeah Clem, how come you never talk about your best friend?” He was smirking now, hands crossed against his chest.

“I thought you were dead Lou” Clem places her hands at her hips”I thought I would never see you again”

“And yet we meet again” his smirk was getting bigger and bigger by the second.  


”I missed you”

“I missed you too, Clemster”

“Oh god, don’t call me that”

He was full on laughing now, Clem soon joining in.

“So what have you been up to for the past eight years?”  
“Oh you kno,..”  
Marlon pushed past the doors and immediatly started talking.  
“Lou, you seen Rosie”  
“No, why?”  
“We’ve got a group of walkers outside the gates and we need some manpower” He looked towards Clem “not to be rude after you just waking up and all, but mind giving us a hand?”


	2. Just as I remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine and Louis want to catch up on all that they’ve missed for the past eight years but can they really do that in the middle of the apocalypse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I got some really nice reviews, and comments so thank you guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter, if you have suggestions for future side fics, au ideas or even just wanna say why you like or dislike something plz do I would love the feedback

Clementine never thought she’d see Louis again when he left for the school, and when the dead started walking she just assumed he was dead, hell, nearly everyone else was, and now she’s walking with him and her son towards a barrier, about to beat walkers.

”okay boys,.and girls; their starting to file in!”

_Keep shouting and they’ll be more more to come_

”Funny huh, it’s almost like something caught their attention, like a carcrash,.. or something”

The girl from the wall stated with a bored tone; Clementine wasn’t to eager to formally meet her. The gates were then being opened, with the girl picking up a cleaver and running to the first walker, slamming it into its face, pulling it out and going to another.

_well isn’t she a delight_

”uh, don’t worry about Vi, she grows on ya, promise” Louis proceeded to heave a,.. chairleg? with nails sticking out of it over his shoulder. He must have noticed clementines addled expression because he quickly began to explain. “Ah yes my trusty chairleg, I call it” he began to smirk and raise an eyebrow “chairles” and with that, ran to join the girl with the cleaver. 

_Oh my god_

Of course Louis would name his weapon after a pun, in the middle of the apocalypse. With an eyeroll and shake of her head, she gripped her knife and began to help them. Aj wanted to help, but no way in hell was Aj fighting with a gun, it would make to much noise and besides, she may remember Louis, and Aj definitely seemed to like him, but she doesn’t know anything about these other people

Doesn’t know what they’d do if they had the choice to help them her boy, or leave him if he got hurt, and she wasn’t about to chance it.

-

Once they had gotten all the walkers and they had retreated inside the walls, Marlon seemed set on making sure everyone properly met Clem and Aj.

”Everyone gather round, we’ve got new people” 

Clem and Aj shared a glance at that and seemed to know what the other was thinking.

_Since when are we their people?_

“This is Clem and Aj” He seemed to wait a minute while looking at Clem, almost as if he wanted her to say something.

“And uh,.these are violet” the cleaver girl was still glaring into the distance,              “Tennessee, Tenn for short” the boy she disarmed and cornered, looking anywhere but their eyes, “Willy” the kid with weird teeth, and who shouted a lot,

“Assim is over their writing” a small wave was given to them before his attention went back to his book,

“Ruby, although I think your boy already knows her” , Aj lowered his head at that and only looked up to pout at Louis while he chuckled, “and over by the pot is Omar, our cook, Mitch is the one with the knife, Brody is inside somewhere with Rosie, you can meet her later, and last but not least Louis”

”Oh Yeah, I see what your doing Marlon, saving the best for last, don’t worry, I gotcha” Louis put his hands on his hips and flipped his dreads over his shoulder, making Aj giggle.

Marlon just sighed before looking deadpan at Clem.

”I wouldn’t bother with Louis”

”oh I’m already aware of that, I’ve had to deal with him before”

At this Louis placed a hand over his heart and pretended to swoon,  leaning his weight against her. Clem wanted to be annoyed, but sh couldn’t, not with Aj so clearly enjoying it and the whole thing just being so,.. Louis.

”Oh I’m offended Clemmy, I really am, I thought you would have been nicer to me, considering I’m an old face and all”

”Louis get off, your crushing me”

”oh now I’m being shamed, I swear clementine you’ve gotten so mean since I last saw you”

The whole while Aj was giggling uncontrollably, glancing back and forth between the two.

“Wait, what?”

This caught their attention. Marlon and the other kids were still standing there, looking confused.

”Well it’s quite simple, Marlon old pal, me and Clemmy here are friends from before the start of the apocalypse” At Marlons expression Louis sighed “c’mon man, I’ve told ‘bout her before”

At this point Louis has flung his arm round her shoulders, and was pulling her into his side.       This had startled her because it’s what he always used to do when they were kids, just a thing that she had seen and experienced, that had always known been known to her as simply something Louis did, no matter what.

It was comforting in a way.

_He really hasn’t changed all that much_

”wait, this is clementine?” Willy seemed to have gotten more confident as he watched them talk as he asked his question and at Louis’s nod his face showed respect and wonder, whereas only a few moments ago, they were being treated as strangers and weary curiosity.

Because that’s what they were strangers so what the hell did Louis tell this kid to make him so,.. friendly?

 

“Is it true that once yo,..”

”Okay, Willy you can ask questions later, right now we can go eat” he turned to face Clem “it’s good to fianally meet you clementine, we’ve heard a lot about you from Louis” 

He smiled quickly, before walking back to school building, and calling out to someone.

”so I believe we talking before we were rudely interrupted by Zambia’s” Louis was still their beside her, grinning cheerfully.

”yeah, we were” 

-

Louis led them over to a couple of chairs outside and took a seat, before gesturing for Clem and Aj to do the same. 

“So, Clemmy, you didn’t actually tell me about Aj over here” he was grinning at Aj while he said it, and strangely enough Aj was grinning back.

_Their gonna be good friends_

However, when she took in the question, she got a troubled look on her face “In one of my old groups, their was a couple, Alvin and Rebecca. They were expecting their first kid, but Alvin got killed a few months before and Rebecca died, after Aj was born, it was the middle of a snow storm and she was too weak”

She misses Alvin and Rebecca, they were good people, and once they trusted her, they treated Clem as part of their family.

It was silent for a few seconds before she felt a hand on her own, looking down to see Aj smiling at her and clasping her fingers. 

She smiled at her boy before looking back at Louis, who had gone quiet to listen to her answer.

”We had a few people help us after that, but eventually it was just the two of us”

Louis leaned back in his chair “Well damn Clem, good to know your still as badass as I remember” he had a praising look on his face.

”Clem is the bravest their is” Aj said confidently, his hand still clutching hers.

”Thanks goofball” she ruffled his afro as she said it. Strangely enough, he didn’t say anything about being to big for the nickname.

As she looked back, she saw Louis was watching them with a smile.

”So what about you Lou, got any good stories to share now we’re here”

”oh please Clemmy, every story I tell is good” 

She couldn’t help but giggle at that, Louis hearing it and raising an eyebrow.

”Excuse you, is that judgement I hear?” He asked, theatrically putting a cupped hand to his ear.

”Of course not Lou” 

“Well, as I was saying,..”

They suddenly heard Marlon’s voice.  “Hey you three, foods done!” 

“Coming!”

Louis held out a hand to help Clem and Aj up.

”C”mon we talk while we eat”


	3. Remember it like yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine and Louis have so much to talk about, but how exactly do these kids know about all their stories?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone whose commented on this so far and special thanks to SmoshArrowverseFan for giving me such great ideas that I used this chapter (and ideas for the next one or two) if you have any side story ideas, au ideas or even just feedback I would love to hear it :)

Sitting at a table full of strangers would have been bad for Clems sanity if it weren’t for Louis. The boy never stopped talking, never leaving any room for awkward silence, only quips and bad jokes. It would’ve been fine except, all these kids seemed to make it a point to watch her and Louis talk, and their seemed to be some kind of understanding in their eyes as they did so. However Clem was not focusing on that, she was focusing on the stew in front of her, Louis’s rushed words and her boy, who was practically inhaling his serving; after all they hadn’t had a hot meal in a few months. He still looked ravenous when he had finished his bowl.

”Clem?”

The poor boy had his empty bowl in front of him on the table, and wasn’t looking at anyone, keeping his eyes to the ground, his hands clasped over his stomach.

”Oh goofball”

Right as she was about to give up her food, Louis quickly slid his still-full bowl towards the six year old.

”Here you go little dude, I ain’t hungry” 

Aj was quick to smile his way before starting to eat again, while Clem threw a gratefull nod at Louis.

Louis only nodded back at her, grinning.

Neither seemed to notice the looks being passed around by Marlon and the others.

-

Once they had all finished eating, Aj went to sit with Tenn, who had been drawing. The boy started to panic when Aj sat opposite him, but seemed to relax again, soon enough, as they began to talk, Aj leaning over the table to see his piece of paper.

Clem turned back, to see Louis shuffling the card set.

”So, I’m thinking we have a game tonight” Louis began to reach into into his pockets to reveal,.. her old card stack?

_He kept those?_

"oh god, count me out” Ruby was quick to leave the table, before shouting a last goodnight, and walk into the building.

Willy and Mitch went over to the outside chairs and began a conversation, Aasim was reading another book and Omar was nowhere to be seen, as far as Clem could tell.

This left her, Marlon, Violet and Louis.

”So I’m going to assume we’re playing war?”

”of course Clembear, you know me so well” 

Clem shook her head at the nickname, smiling at the familiarity of it all, playing war and him giving her new nicknames by the second.

The first round, Violet won.

”Okay so clem, I gotta ask, how did you become friends with Louis?”

Clementine smiled at this, before giving her answer.

”I was five, when our new neighbors had moved in and I had gone into my garden to play when Louis jumped over the fence and started asking me questions about me and the area we were in , I didn’t really have any friends at that time, so I just hung out with him for the rest of the day;  ever since then we’ve been good friends”

Louis pretended to wipe a tear from his eye and fan his face.

”Ah yes, I remember it like it was yesterday, ‘twas a fine day indeed”

This earned him an eyeroll from all three people, making him chuckle and pass out another round of cards. Marlon got it that time.

He paused to think, before his eyes seemed to light up and a smug grin grew on his face.

”Clementine, Louis has told a lot of stories, and I mean a lot, but theirs one thing he refuses to tell us” he gestured to his own arm before continuing “Louis has a long scar going up his forearm but always refuses to tell us how he got it, or at least the truthful version” cue an offended gasp from Louis,

”would you happen to know about it?”

Clementine glanced over at him, to see Louis miming a zipping motion over his lips, while shaking his head back and forth, a panicked look in his eye.

”As a matter of fact, I do”

Louis groaned dramatically, before placing his head in the desk.

”In my old houses garden, I had a treehouse, and a few months after I had met Louis, we were playing in it,”

Louis’s groans were getting louder.

”Louis being Louis, decided to start running round the treehouse, singing at the top of his lungs,..”

“ _Ring-a-ring-a-roses, a pocket full of,..” The eight year old continued to skip around the treehouse, singing joyfully while the girl beside him, giggled freely._

_“C’mon Lou-Lou, stop running around, your gonna trip over your shoelaces soon enough!”_

_”Oh c’mon Clembear, I thought you liked my singing, I know the judges do” He Pinched his nose to make his voice nasally “what a beautiful performance from the Louis himself, truly a spectacular day!”_

_”what does spectacular mean?”_

_”I think it means good”_

_”oh okay, still, stop running, and sit down”_

_”But Clemmy,then you wouldn’t get the full Louis package” he started to spin as he ran “oh I know, it’s the song, isn’t it; well I know what to sing, Oh my darling, Oh my darlin,..ouwch!”_

_Clementines smile suddenly dropped as she watched her best friend fall from their treehouse._

_She started to frantically climb down the steps, tripping over her own feet before kneeling beside Louis, his arm was bleeding, and was groaning and clutching his head._

_”Louis, are you okay?!”_

_”ugghh,.. and the scoress are in” He slurred before promptly passing out._

_”oh my go,..”_

By the time she had finished telling her story, Violet was making making almost noiseless, wheezing sounds, clutching her sides from laughing so hard while Marlon was trying his best to be mature, trying to disguise his choked laughter as coughs, but failing miserably.

Even Louis was smiling, though he was still trying to act offended.

”Wow, and here I was, thinking you wouldn’t betray me Clemster”

”God, I already told you not that nickname” 

“oh please you love it.,”

”Clem?”

All four of them turned to see Aj, standing behind Clementine, rubbing his eyes, with her quickly sliding of the bench to kneel down to his height. 

“What’s up, kiddo?” She asked, ruffling his hair.

”Wheir are we gonna sleep tonight?”

At this point, Louis has stood up, and placed his hand on Ajs shoulder, kneeling down beside Clem.

”If you wanna follow me little dude, and I can take you and Clem to one of the spare rooms?”

He turned to Clem for her approval and once he got a nod in return, started to walk towards the main building.

”This way”, motioning them to follow by waving his hand, and Aj said good night to Tenn before walking with Louis, Clem following just behind. 

By the time, Louis had shown them their room, Aj was practically sleepwalking, making it all the more easier to put him to bed, but just before Clem could do the same, she found Louis’s arm tight around her waist, as she was pulled into a hug. She hesitated for one second, before hugging him back.

”I missed you Clem”

”I missed you too, Lou”

As he leaned back, walked away and pulled open the door, Louis turned around once more.

”I’ll talk to ya in the morning Clem, g’night”

”good night”

And with that he walked out the room and shut the door.

Just as Clem had gotten into bed across from Ajs, she heard the rustling of sheets and saw him looking at her. knowing what he meant instantly, she shifted across her bed and lifted the covers, with Aj immediately walking across to her and laying beside her. Tucking him in, she heard him start to speak.

”Hey Clem?”

”Yeah kiddo?”

”I like it here, can we stay?”

Clementine hugged her boy closer at that.

”Course we can goofball, goodnight”

”Night Clem”

And for some reason, that night, she fell asleep easily, no nightmares but the soft sound of someone singing a lullaby in her head.

 

 

 


	4. Do you remember?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis and Clementine are starting remember the little things from their past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I had bad writers block but I’m good now so theirs that.  
> I’m actually really proud of this so I hope you enjoy, and if you have any suggestions for future side fics, scenarios in this fic or even more au ideas for different fics don’t be afraid to let me know :)

Hey Clementine woke up the next morning, Aj still huddled beside her on the bed.

_Huh, no nightmares_

Clambering out of bed, she proceeded to look around the room, not being awake enough to do so the night before.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept soundly, used to the ground and bushes and curling tight around Aj to keep him from sight, to keep him warm.

For her to wake up in a room, in a bed even, was foreign.

To wake up and not have to worry about how many walkers she had to kill soon, how hungry Aj was or how tired she was, was a new experience for her. 

_It’s nice_

She continued to look round the room, before hearing Aj mutter under his breath.

Chuckling, she proceeded to kneel beside him and shake his arm.

”Wakkey, wakkey kiddo”

Another half coherent mumble,

”C’mon, goofball don’t leave me hanging”

”Clem?”

Aj finally seemed to wake up, sitting up, yawning and rubbing his eyes before smiling at Clem, sliding of the bed and stretching.

However, he seemed to hesitate before turning around again.

”Can we really stay here?”

Clem knew what he meant, he meant the other groups that taken them in, promised to keep them safe and had ultimately broken that promise. He and Clem got less and less surprised every time it happened.

”We’ll see how it goes buddy, but I,.. I hope so”

He hugged her tight at that, his arms being flinged around her neck, his head resting on her collerbone. Clem hugged him back.

”Me too”

And with that, the moment seemed to be over, Aj practically skipping to the door, Clem just behind him, as they walked through the halls and to the outside.

-

Walking past the doors, Marlon quickly ran to them.

”Hey guys, I got a mission for ya”

Clem and Aj glanced at him, before each other, waiting for the other to nod.

”What is it?” Clementine asked, her hands going to their hips.

Marlon crossed his arms before answering. “We’ve been struggling for food for a while, and now with two extra people to feed, we’re gonna need all the food we can possibly get; we could use some more people to go with Aasim and Louis”

At the mention of Louis, both Clementine and Aj seemed to brighten.

”Your boy can go too, if he wants”

A nod from Clem and a victory  dance from Aj seemed to be answer enough for him, before he turned around, a large pitbull following him. Clem took a double take, after all, her fear of dogs was still relevant and she started to unconsciously rub the scar on her arm, from where Sam had bitten her.

“Clembear!, good to see this fine day”

He nodded at her, placing his hand on his hip, the other holding onto,..chairles. 

_God dammit she still wasn’t over the damn pun_

 She nodded back, smiling at her childhood friend.

“Good to see you too, Lou”

Aj stood beside Clem, his eyes turned forwards,..or upwards, to look at Louis.

”Are we gonna go get food?” He questioned, taking another step closer. Clem was surprised her little boy seemed to trust Louis so much, used to him glaring and hanging onto her hand when they had, although rarely, encountered any other survivors.

”We sure are little dude, we just gotta wait for his majesty to finish writing”

Louis turned a thumb towards where Aasim was scribbling in a large, leather-bound book.

His response was an eyeroll and indignant sigh.

”say what you want Louis, but these books and my writing, is the only thing keeping me sane around you”

At that, Louis placed a hand over his heart.

”Oh please, I am a delight, that you simply can’t appreciate”

Another eyeroll.

”whatever Louis, I’m done now anyway”

Louis seemed to instantly perk up, practically skipping and hopping towards the gate, Clem and Aj at his heels, as he flung his weaponless arm in the air.

”finally, now, let’s go hunting!” 

-

They had been walking for about ten minutes, with Clem constantly glancing around, her knife drawn and was moving with careful, slow steps, Aj following suit on the other side of Louis, when Aasim started to talk.

 “There are traps everywhere around this area”

He pointed at a couple of of rope circles tied to the trees and wrapped around the branches, in a way that was, Clementine assumes, meant to catch the animal, or walker, when it stepped on it.

”So watch where you go”

He shot an obvious look behind his shoulder at Louis before continuing.

”Why is it that you looked at me as you said that?”

Louis raised an eyebrow and pouted as he asked.

Aasim didn’t even bother to turn his head, only waving a dismissive hand gesture behind him, while sighing tiredly. 

“Because, Louis, you’re the clumsiest person in the group and would most likely lose their own head, if it weren’t attached to your head”

”I take offence from that, and besides I’m practically a ninja”

he proceeded to pose dramatically , pretending to karate chop Ajs Afro, with a high pitched noise, making the little boy laugh.

”Skilled in the ways of martial arts”

Clementine immediately saw her chance.

”Ah, I see you remembered our training”

She also struck a pose, a hand pulled back to her hip, the bent splayed out beside her, kicking one leg out in front of her.

“Me too”

Aj joined in, raising bother arms above his head, standing on one leg, only to start wobbling precariously before Louis grabbed his arm; earning him a smile from Clem and Aj.

Louis seemed delighted to have them join him in his fun, and went back to posing, before all three of them burst out laughing, Louis leaning his head back, Aj giggling and stumbling over his own feet and Clem softly chuckling at the both of them.

Aasim, however, was repeatedly sighing, whispering and cursing under his breath, and shaking his head as he did so.

”oh dear god”

Once they had stopped giggling, although they hadn’t stopped smiling, Aasim turned round, glaring at Louis.

”If you could be serious for one second, we need food and not all of us can slack due to being the pleasure of being Marlons lapdog”

Louis theatrically held a hand up to his mouth, before leaning over to whisper into Ajs ear, but still not quiet enough, for anyone to even think he was bothering.

”Ohh, someone’s jealous”

He stood up straight again, adgisting his jacket in his free hand.

”In my defence, I get stuff done, I just prefer to enjoy being alive rather than being paranoid and a stick in the mud”

Clem looked at him, smiling at his defence, to see him grinning at her as well.

“Good to see you’ve still got that optimism thing going”

”Clembear, can you imagine an innocent soul like me surviving the end of the world if I was a pessimist?”

He placed a straightened hand under chin, before flicking his dreadlocks dramatically.

”What’s a pessimist?”

Clem looked down to see Aj staring up at her quizzically.

”Someone who always assumes the worst of a situation”

Aj silently mouthed  _oh,_ before nodding at her and continuing to look forward as he walked.

However, it seemed Aasim hadn’t been listening to Clem and Ajs little discussion, as he was still glancing at Louis over his shoulder.

“You act like your the only one with a strategy, as for me, I’m in the long game, gotta have plan B,  C and D, in case A doesn’t work out”

Louis was quick to point his hand in the air, making a “Ah-hah” sound.

Although, it didn’t seem to be the only sound in the air.

”But what if you don’t make it tha,..”

Clementine could hear it better now, the growling of an animal or a,..

”Shh, shut up for a second”

Everyone stopped at her command, as she began to lead them towards the sound, knife in hand, walking slowly and cautiously.

Only for her to see a walker, handing upside down, as he was held up by one the traps Aasim had mentioned.

Upon seeing them, the walker began to reach out to them, making itself softly swing, too and fro, the growling having gotten louder. Louis began to walk up to forwards, prodding it with chairles and chuckling.

”Hey!, check out this guy, he’s like a piñata, you remember those Clem?”

”How could I forget?”

She and Louis, for each of their birthdays would have a piñata, filled to the brim, with sweets and chocolate. No matter whose birthday it was though, they would always take turns swinging at it, meaning clementine would try to hit it, and Louis would always be the one to open it, often at times helping Clem find the target but they didn’t really care as long as they got their suger.

Especially considering they were the only friend the other had, so it would always be fun to sort through and share the sweets between them, in their treehouse.

“Great, now that you’ve done reminiscing, fix the trap and come help”

Louis shrugged and put his hand up in front of him, palm facing away, as he answered.

”I will, I will,... eventually”

”oh, for the love of,..”

He turned to Clementine, already loading his bow with an arrow.

”If you want food for the kid, I suggest helping me, on the other hand you can stay with this idiot and you can starve ”

With that, he turned around and walked away, coincidentally not hearing Louis start to mock him.

“Or you can starve, so dramatic”

Clem turned to face him, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side.

”Many would say that you were the one being dramatic right now Lou”

His face grew into a smirk, one eyebrow raising, before he responded to her.

”I would just like to point out that if anyone else were to say that, I would be deeply offended but if your as emotionally constipated as I remember, then I’ll take your jokes at my expense as endearment, any day”

Suddenly, he swung Chairles by the handle, then gripping the the thicker end, offered it to Clementine.

”Swing?”

Clementine was confused to say the least. Glancing over at Aj, made her see that he was as well.

”What?”

Rolling his eyes, he then held the chair leg with both hands, the weapon resting on his open palms, while he lowered himself to one knee.

”Would you, Clembear, wish to take the chairleg, chairles, and use your arm to move it an urward motion, towards the walkers face?”

Clementine was trying her hardest to deadpan as she answered.

”Okay, now your being dramatic on purpose”

He smirked again, something that just was very,..Louis.

”Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, still don’t answer the question”

Clementine was still looking at the chair leg, before seeing the  walker still dangling there, reaching for them, and a look at Aj, she saw him nod, both thumbs up. She also couldn’t help but look at Louis, at the hope in his eyes as he looked up at her.

”One swing”

She caught it as he threw it to her, handle first.

”Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

He turned to Aj.

”What’s say you little dude, wanna join team fun?”

Aj looked happy at being addressed and quickly jogged over to beside Louis.

”Team fun?”

”Yep, that’s right and your memebership has been filled in, sent and accepted” He said, placing his hand on Ajs shoulder.

He then looked at Clem with a smirk.

”So Clem, still bad with a bat?”

”Excuse me?”

”Oh c’mon you can’t have forgotten my excellent teaching skills and your brilliant listening but not learning skills”

_”C’mon Clembear, I thought you said you were good at sports?!”_

_The eight year old ducked as the Clem threw the ball at his head, narrowlly missing._

_”I am! But I play soccer, not baseball!, baseball isn’t as fun as soccer”_

_Louis was giggling as her hugged her, after it was funny when she got frustrated about this kinda thing, when she wanted to look cool and be good at something but didn’t know how._

_”Isn’t your dad going to that baseball game tomorrow?”_

_”yeah, he said he would bring us back something, from the stalls”_

_Louis began to punch the air, grinning widely, like he normally did when he talked about Clems dad._

_”Ah hell yeah!”_

_Clementine fake gasped, putting a hand over her mouth._

_”Swear!”_

_”It isn’t a swear Clem, it’s a place and hey! Stop trying to distract me teaching you how to play baseball”_

_”Your the one who asked about dads baseball game”_

_”Soo,.. c’mon before we have to go back in”_

_”okay, okay Lou-Lou”_

At this point, Clementine was brought back from her memory by seeing Aj and Louis wait for her to swing the bat.

“Well Clemmy, we’re waiting on ya”

Clementine brought her arm back, using both arms, like Javi taught her, lined up her target and swung it at the walkers head. Their was an audible crunch as the weapon broke bone.

”Oh shoot, nice one Clementine, if the Olympics were still a thing, you’d get a silver for sure!”

Clementine faced him annoyed at his statement.

”Silver, huh”

His smirk seemed to grow bigger, if such a thing was even possible.

”what you wanna try and get gold?”

Aj was still bouncing excitedly beside Louis.

”Yeah Clem!”

As she was about to swing though, she heard Louis’ smug voice from behind, followed by Aj giggling.

”Although, I could have sworn someone had said something about only one swing”

_Ohh, alright then_

Clementine did the same as before, only this time, took a step back as well, before launching Chairles at the monsters head, and, as fate would have it, it’s jaw was dislocated and broken of from the rest of its face.

Louis seemed momentarily shocked, while Clem have a self-satisfied look, Aj grinning broadly at her.

”Holy cannoli!, when did you learn how to use a bat?”

”A friend of mine taught me, when we weren’t busy bashing in walker brains that is”

”Well then, remind me to never get on your bad side when I’m in batting range”

She shook her head fondly, chuckling slightly.

”yeah, yeah Lou,.we should do this again some time”

His smile wavered, before returning, smaller than before but even more genuine.

”That we should, Clembear”

He cleared his throat, gesturing to the walker with his free hand.

”You go check on Aasim, I’ll help our friend down and reset the snare”

A quick nod was sent his way before he turned around.

“Clem look!”

A yell from Aj immediately had her attention, glancing around before finding beside of the traps. Within it was a baby rabbit, small enough to fit in her cupped hands.

”It’s a baby” 

Louis walked over as well, having heard Aj shout, and clapped his hands.

“Well all meat is good meat right?”

Aasim was there too, with two large rabbits slung over his shoulder, looking over the catch, before shaking his head and looking to Clementine. “Free it, we should let it get bigger”

Louis turned to him with a credulous look on his face, before responding to him.

”That’s not a today problem, and today I’m hungry”

Ajs stomach took the exact moment to rumble, making all Louis, Aasim and Clem look at him. Louis nodded at him before altering his statement.

”We’re hungry”

”So am I, but we’re gonna be even hungrier is we catch it and theirs still not enough”

Clementine has heard enough and before the others had realised what she was doing, she had unhooked the bunny’s legs from the snare, before gently placing it on the ground, watching it hop away.

Aj being the innocent child he was waved sweetly at the rabbits frame as he watched it go into the bushes.

“Bye bunny”

”Great what are we supposed to eat today then?”

A raised eyebrow from both Aasim and Clem was enough for him to become passive again.

“Uhh, fine I get it, I would wanna kill a baby bunny either”

Aasim nodded before looking at Louis.

”You’ll thank me in a few months”

”Not if we don’t live for that long”

Clementine couldn’t resist the idea of teasing him, and make him less grumpy.

”I thought you were all about living in the moment and today, Lou?”

Louis quickly began to grin again, crossing his arms, yet somehow still managing to sound indignant.

”Dont use my words against me, Clembear”

He turned back to Aasim, who was watching this with a smirk and knowing eye.

“Welp, all the traps have been reset and are ready to catch some stuff; we good to go or what?”

Aasim nodded at them, before turning to walk back to the school. Before he left though, he gave them some more instructions.

“I’ll go take these back, you guys go check on Brody and Violet, see if they managed to catch any fish”

Aj quickly started to bounce around, looking extremely happy for a six year in the middle of the apocalypse.

”I like fish!”

And for the first time since she had met him, she saw Aasim give a small, genuine smile at her boy before nodding and turning around with a wave other his shoulder.

“Thats great, I’ll see you guys back at the school”

Louis looked at Clem and Aj before bowing low to the ground.

_Ever the dramatic_

”Well then, young dude, older than young but still short Clembear,”

He gave a sweep of his arm in a direction, opposite to where Aasim had left.

”Shall we?”

 


	5. Always gonna be their

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clem and Aj like it in their new home, with Louis and his people so what will happen when a possible threat emerges?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had really bad writers block for ages and I couldn’t be bothered to write or do anything really, so sorry about that, but I’ve it done it now and I promise to make chapter 6 twice as good and upload it quicker, if you have suggestions for side stories, scenarios in this storie or even au ideas for future stories, let me know :)

Clem was behind Aj and Louis as they walked towards the river, her knife tucked away in her pocket but her hand nearby, to be able to retrieve it without a seconds notice. They had only been walking for ten minutes when Louis, rather dramatically, announced their arrival.

However, Aj had stopped a few feet in front of them, blocking whatever had caught him unaware from Clem line of sight, as he turned his head.

”Clem?”

He looked back, reaching out to clutch at Clementines wrist, his grip causing red marks on her skin. She finally saw what had gotten her boy so agitated.

”It’s a monster”

The walker itself was nothing out of the norm, the usual rotting flesh and gaunt frame, but this one had been already killed, a makeshift spear pinning its bloodied head to the ground.

Louis seemed as equally confused by this, as he looked over Clems shoulder, his arms crossed over his chest, before twisting the spear out of the walkers forehead, and examining it.

”Vi wouldn’t have just left this out in the open, but it is one of our spears, to catch fish”

He walked away from them, walking towards the shack he had been telling them about, before trying the door. He seemed to freeze before facing back their way, the door knob in his hand.

”Locks busted, we may have some company”

Clementine unhinged Ajs fingers from her wrist walking forward towards the door, unsheathing her knife, Aj behind her, both of them taking long, cautious steps, before she kicked the door in, rushing in her knife in front of her, but seeing no one, dead or alive.

”Everything looks clear”

With Louis following behind her, his eyes widened comically, darting around the room.

”Holy shoot, this place is wrecked”

“Everythings gone, weapons, extra food and water, gone”

He hefted Chairles over his shoulder and ran outside before calling over his shoulder.

”Imma go look around out side, don’t go anywhere”

Clem has decided to look around, see if their was anything useful left perhaps a sharp piece of metal, string or wood, maybe even something for Aj.

The only thing she found however was a smoking piece of paper, rolled into a cigarette, covered in words. 

”Is this,.. a bible page?”

The end that been lit on fire was still warm.

_It was recently used_

”Clem, What’s going on, the hell happened here?”

She turned, startled, to see Violet and Brody making their way into the shack, weapons in hand, muddled expressions on their faces. Before either her or Aj could answer However, Louis came running back, slightly out of breath, sparing only a glance in the newcomers direction before speaking to Clementine.

”Whoever it was, their gone now”

Brody was looking back and forth between the two now, suspicion evident on her face.

”What are you guys talking about?”

Clem answered, as Louis was still slightly out of breath from having just ran.

”Someone’s stolen our stuff”

Louis decided to chime in, apparently having gathered enough breath.

”A thief”

”Shit”

Everyone turned to look at Violet for an explanation, as she began to tap her foot, Brody pacing back and forth behind her while ringing her hands.

”We’ve just been down a mile of the river, and all the traps are empty, except one or two; we were able to catch a few fish on the spears but apart from that,.”

“By any chance, does anyone in the group smoke?”

Violet looked at her in a questioning way before answering, with a shake of her head.

”No, nothing to smoke, why?”

”I found a this”

Clem held up the cigarette she had found and while Louis and Violet looked confused, Brody’s eyes seemed to widen before she began to pace again.

”The lit end is still warm, so whoever was here, didn’t leave that long ago”

Louis was quick to intervene after hearing that.

“Well this is just fantastic, we’re gonna starve”

Fuck, this is just,.. fuck oh fuck”

Brody had begun to mutter to herself rubbing her arms and taking deep breaths.

Violet tried to calm her down, however Brody was working herself up to much to pay any kind of attention.

”Don’t worry Brody, we can just reset the traps and check them more frequently”

“But it’s,.. this is,. Okay, okay breathe Brody, c’mon, c’mon”

Clem decided to intervene at that point.

“Just take a deep breath and hold it Brody”

She tried to hold her hands up in a passive gesture, only for Brody to whirl around and snap at her.

”Just shut up, oh god what if they steal from us again?!”

Brody was pulling at her hair at this point, her shoulders rising to beside her ears. Clem tried again, holding her tongue on the sarcastic comment she was about to say.

”Well find more food, don’t worry”

”How do you that, you don’t know what people are like out their Clem!”

At that Clems eyes seemed to dull a little, Ajs head whipping round to face Brody, his eyebrows angled downwards, with him taking a step forward, or at least trying to, as Clem put her hand out and grabbed his shoulder, preventing him going any further. Clem faces her again.

”Think again”

Louis and Violet has been glancing back and forth between the two, but at that Louis looked at her and Aj, eyebrows furrowing at the look on Ajs face and tone of Clementines voice. Even Brody was looking concerned at Aj, before promptly turning and stalking away from them and through the door.

”I need to tell Marlon about this”

The last thing she said, before slamming the door behind her. Clem listened to her retreating footsteps, before facing Violet and Louis.

”Well what are gonna do, we don’t exactly have any food here, now do we?”

Violet seemed to just shrug at the question, as if this was the norm for them.

was it?

”We figure it out ourselves”

Louis, the ever dramatic, threw his hands up in the air, hugging out a breath, before leaning against the peeling, wall of the shack.

”Great, Just great, guess what guys we’re gonna be dining in rocks tonight”

Aj innocently looked up to him, an incredulous look on his face.

”You can’t eat rocks”

Louis only raised an eyebrow, before chuckling and bumping his shoulder with his hip, his bad mood apparently already forgotten.

”I’m aware”

Aj turned from him to face his carer, his eyes downwards and head lowered.

”Clem, are we gonna get kicked out for not finding enough food again?”

Louis seemed shocked at that, Clem noted, glancing at her to spot a reaction, only for his expression to turn sad, before kneeling beside Aj. 

“I wouldn’t let Marlon kick you and Clem out little dude”

”Promise?”

His held out his pinkie finger towards Louis, while the elder boy had started at that, as if not expecting the response. Before Aj could take it back though, he quickly held up his pinkie, locking it with Ajs and shaking. Clem was watching them, with a fond expression. Her boys were adorable.

”Promise”

Violet had not seemed to notice the two boys as they made their pact, facing Clem with a quizzical look on her face.

”What do we do now?”

Clem scoured over the map, trying to find any possible food resources. Her mind was coming to a blank, before thankfully spotting a familiar checkpoint, located about a mile from the edge of the designated safe zone

”We can go to the train station, according to your map it isn’t that far from here and their was a ton of food in their”

Violet and Louis shared a glance at that.

”I,.. don’t know, it’s pretty far from our perimeter, and Marlon would not be happy if he found out we went outside the safe zone”

Clem place a hand at her hip, raising an eyebrow.

”But we need the food, and their was a ton in their, sure a bit of it would have been destroyed by the explosion, but their would still be enough to last us a while”

Louis was quick to stride over to her side, previous doubts obvious forgotten, placing an arm around her shoulders, the other sweeping towards the general direction of the train station.

”Okay, lead the way, oh great Clembear”

Violet shook her head, her eyes narrowed.

”Really Louis, we’re not going to even discuss this?”

Louis was quick to defend himself and Clementines plan.

”It’s like Clem said, we need the food and she’s seen it herself to say that theirs a ton in that train station; besides I trust Clem”

Clem looked at him, shocked at what he said, after all they hadn’t seen each other in so long, but then again, that blind faith, the complete and utter trust, was still something Louis seemed to have copious amounts of. It confused Clem, she was used to fighting for herself and Aj everyday, whether it be for food, shelter or even against other survivors. It was strange to just someone trust and take care of her for once but it was nice.

_Of course Louis is the one to make me feel better in the middle of the zombie apocalypse_

”Fine, lets go”

-

They had been walking for about ten minutes now, Violet up front, Clementine and Louis at the back, with Aj just in front of them.

Clem notes that Violet was definitely not the chatty type, preferring to keep quiet and calm, whereas Louis was still talking, telling jokes and stories.

”Hey Lou?”

Louis has been in the middle of a story to Aj about the time he had eaten a whole shark, Aj giggling non stop, insisted that a shark was too big to eat for one person, when he stopped to glance at Clem, before nodding as a way to say continue.

”Thanks for.,,,backing me up back their and,,, for saying all that stuff to Aj”

Louis pulled her in closer by the waist at that, hugging her close to his side.

”well duh, course Clembear, that kid looks like he been through hell back; you both do, which we’re still talking about in more detail when we get back, got that?”

He had been gazing at Aj as he said all that, however towards the end, he smiled broadly at her, before releasing her from his grasp.

”Besides, lm always gonna be here for you”

_”Don’t be sad Lou-Lou”_

_Clem has been sitting beside Louis for a good hour now, holding his hand as he sniffled and wiped his eyes. He had come to play, but had been much quieter than usual, and after Clem prompted him to talk to her, he had sat with his knees pulled against his chest in their treehouse. He had a new bruise on his face, right below his eye._

_His daddy had told Clems mum and dad he had tripped and hurt himself being a clutz._

_Clem didn’t believe him._

_Sighing, she put her arms around Louis’s neck, holding on tight._

_”Don’t worry Lou-Lou, I’m always gonna be here for you”_

Clem blinked, the memory gone, to see Louis still grinning at her, before she smiled back.

”Thanks Lou-Lou”

He froze, before chuckling at the old nickname, face going slightly red.

”Glad to be of service”

They continued on to the train station, both somewhat cheerier than they had previously been.

-

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I can’t write, this is my first fic but I saw a au where clementine and Louis were friends before the apocalypse and no one was getting in that so here I am giving what no one but me wanted


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